The present invention relates to a floating magnetic head for use with a magnetic disk unit, and particularly to, a floating magnetic head which minimizes a quantity of floating space between a magnetic disk and the magnetic head floating thereover and which is hence suitable for improving reliability of the magnetic disk unit.
There has been well known, in the field of magnetic information processing, a magnetic disk unit having a magnetic head which is set, in operation, to a floating state over a magnetic disk for recording and reproducing information thereon.
Ordinarily, the magnetic head of this kind includes a magnetic head slider having a magnetic transducer element (magnetic recording and reproducing element) and a magnetic head retainer spring which supports the slider. As a measure for increasing the recording density of the magnetic disk unit, it has been a common practice to minimize the floating space between the magnetic transducer element and the magnetic disk so as to reduce the so-called space loss. The space, namely, the quantity of floating distance of the magnetic head varies depending on fluctuations in the production precision and dynamic changes of the magnetic head during operations of the magnetic disk unit. Due to the variation in the quantity of floating distance, the head slider may possibly be brought into contact with the magnetic disk, moreover, under an undesirable condition, information written thereon may be destroyed. In consequence, there have been required a stably floating head slider in the floating state and a magnetic head retainer spring therefor.
There has been known a magnetic disk unit described, for example, in the JP-B-57-569. In the unit, in order to stabilize the quantity of floating distance of the magnetic transducer element formed in a magnetic head slider, there is arranged an information recording and reproducing gap in the magnetic transducer element on a rolling axis and a pitching axis of the magnetic head slider. In addition, there has been known a magnetic head device, for example, described in the JP-B-58-22827. The magnetic head includes a leaf spring (gimbal) for supporting a magnetic head slider. The spring includes two sided portions and a central portion to be folded such that the central portion is depressed downward to attach the slider on a lower surface of the central portion, and a projection equivalent to the quantity of the depression is disposed on an upper surface of the central portion, thereby preventing any yaw or fluctuation in the rolling and pitching actions.
In these magnetic head units, the fulcrum or supporting point of the load on the head slider determined according to a retaining arm or a load beam supporting the head slider is aligned at the center of the head slider along the direction from the front side of the head slider to the rear side thereof, namely, the direction of rotation of the magnetic disk or the direction of a flow of air generated by rotation of the disk.
FIG. 7 shows an example of a magnetic head in which the fulcrum portion is arranged at the central position of the head slider along the longitudinal direction thereof. The magnetic head includes a head retainer spring la including a load beam 1, a gimbal 2 and a mount 3, and a head slider 4. As shown in this diagram, a fulcrum portion 5 is aligned at the central portion (on the center of the length) of the head slider 4 along the longitudinal direction (from the front side to the rear side thereof).